Rock Steady
by Lowet
Summary: AU. A small ripple. An act of kindness. A changed hero. A man is kind to Naruto, and sets him on a different path. This will change how he views the world, and when you are the center point, even a small ripple goes a long way.


Disclaimer: If you recognize it, it isn't mine.

The world, and the characters belong to the original creators. I make no money off this, nor do I think I could if I wanted to. This is a work of fiction purely written for personal enjoyment.

A/N: I've personally refused to watch any Naruto after the Valley of the End, because the show became... dumb. I've read some of the Kakashi Gaiden, but I will be willfully ignoring a good portion of the new stuff. Like, all of it.

That means this is an AU. The characters will also be slightly OOC, but that's fine, I'm just warning you.

Also, if you review, go for it.

If it's praise, I'll smile and move on.

If it's something to help my story, like grammar, or me contradicting myself, I'll thank you, maybe put in a A/N to thank you.

If it's a flame, I'll giggle and ignore you. Honestly, if you really don't like it, I'm fine with that. It's your opinion. If you have something worth saying, I'll take you seriously. Otherwise, it's not worth it.

So, here's some pertinent information:

Story Title: Rock Steady

Category: Naruto

Rating: M (It's likely not going to be mature themed, but there may be some considerable violence, so I'm being safe here.)

Story Type: AU (Starting while Naruto is in the academy, around age 10, before he's in Iruka's class.)

Pairings: Mainly undecided. Naruto/Hinata, because I simply can't write any other pairing for Hinata, and she's a main character.

Writing key:

---------- - Beginning or end of a chapter or indicates a break, in time or location,

"Speech"

'Thought'

If I feel the need to add Kyuubi's speech, I might bold it.

Here it is.

----------

Chapter 1: A small ripple...

Naruto ducked through the small hole in the fence. He could hear the men on the other side grumbling and cursing him. He never intended to get into trouble, but just being near the market, made them automatically assumed he'd stolen from them.

Naruto sighed, not knowing why the other kids were allowed to play there and he wasn't. He also didn't have time to think about, as he could hear the adults getting ready to get over the fence. He bolted off in a likely looking direction.

Before Naruto could get very far, he ran into someone just stepping out of a shop. Unfortunately for both of them, Naruto was at the right height to catch the man in the knees, and took both of them hard to the ground. The man twisted as he fell, and dropped the sign he was holding in his hand, it clattering to the ground. Naruto immediately froze up, expecting something far worse to come from this, and stayed on the ground, in a curled up position.

After a moment, he did feel a hand on his shoulder. However, it wasn't hitting him, but rather shaking him gently, and not hurting him. He looked up in surprise.

The man that he'd run into was looking at him, still sitting where he'd fallen, "Hey kid, you okay? Say something, let me know you're not hurt here."

It took Naruto a minute to process this, and then he stuttered out, "I. I. I'm fine."

"Oh good. With you not moving, I was a bit worried there."

The stranger stood up, and settled his sign beside the doorway, where it looked to belong. He looked back at Naruto, who was still laying on the ground, unmoving. Naruto simply stared back at the man, who was fairly plain, brown hair, tall, and slightly skinny, with surprisingly green eyes looking back at him.

"Okay kid, let's get you inside and dusted off. It's hot enough out here, I could do with some water, you?" He reached down, and hefted Naruto back up to his feet.

Naruto was confused, as this man hadn't hurt him yet. The only person he'd ever had this much contact with, without pain had been the Hokage. A small bit of hope bloomed deep in Naruto, so deep he didn't notice, that just maybe, he wouldn't he hurt by this man. He let himself be herded into the shop that the man was standing in the door to.

Just as he got inside, he heard the men looking for him coming quickly up the street. Reacting as quickly as possibly, Naruto put one of the racks of merchandise in between him and the door. He listened carefully as the men, passed the door and kept going up the street, talking about finding him. They slowly drifted out of earshot, and Naruto relaxed. Then, he turned to look around the store that he'd entered so quickly.

Naruto drew in a sharp breath. All around was smooth polished wood and metal. It reflected at him from all directions, well polished and set up. He honestly had no idea what he was looking at, never having had any dealings with this before, but he was captivated, staring intently at some of the pieces hanging in the shop. With the way some of the pieces were decorated, he was almost starting to believe he was just looking at pieces of art, but there was almost always some similarities between all of them. He was reaching out to touch one of the nearest pieces, when he heard a footstep nearby. Turning, he saw the man standing a few feet away, with a couple glasses of water in hand, and a calculating look on his face.

"You look captivated." His gentle voice breaking the silence.

Naruto nodded, not fully trusting his voice, as he took the glass of water.

"My name is Misho. I'm new in town, and have just set up my new store here. What's your name?"

"My name is Naruto, Naruto Uzumaki. What is this place?"

Misho laughed, "Like I said. It's my new store. I figured since I wasn't good enough to cut it as a musician, I'd try to sell some instruments here in Konoha."

"You make music with these?"

Misho looked up, surprised, "You don't know what instruments are?"

"Uh... not really, no." Naruto blushed and scratched the back of his head, "I'm an orphan... I've never had parents to show me."

Misho was shocked, that this boy had never heard any music played. 'I heard that ninja needed some more music in their village, but this is a bit much.'

"Well then, Naruto, let's show you some music. We'll start with the guitar, since you seemed so interested in it."

"A guitar? What's that?"

Laughing, Misho pointed to the instrument that Naruto had been reaching for before he noticed Misho, "That's a guitar. Let me play some for you."

"Thank you Misho-san!"

----------

A couple hours later, Misho set down the violin, putting it back on the shelf. He'd played nearly all the instruments in the store, and was amazed that Naruto had said very little beyond some simple and basic questions. Naruto had been very attentive through the whole thing, and Misho felt that his day was not a waste, if only for these couple hours.

"Why are you here Misho-san?"

"Hmm? I'm here to sell instruments. Do you want to know why I chose here?" Naruto nodded, "Okay, well... I used to be training to be a shinobi, when I was your age. I could never cut it though, my head was too much in the clouds, and I just wasn't good enough to make up for it. I never passed my genin exam. However, I knew some shinobi, back then. We stayed in touch, and one of my friends once told me that ninja are some of the tensest people on the planet, and that they seriously need to have some sort of activity to let go in. I do it by music, and I thought that maybe I could do some business with that. I came to Konoha, cause it's the most... peaceful of all the villages, so I figured if I could make it anywhere, it'd be here."

Naruto looked thoughtful for a little while, "Why do ninja need to let go? What are they holding?"

Over his own chuckles Misho responded, "They need to have something to help them relax, Naruto. Something that they don't have to be killing machines all the time, so that they don't go nuts."

This time, Naruto seemed to understand better, "So does that mean, if I want to be a good ninja, I need to play music?"

'Or, maybe not' Thought Misho, "No, Naruto. You just need to find something to remind yourself that you are you, and not some mindless worker for the Hokage, as great a man he is."

"But I want to play music!"

Misho laughed, "Well then Naruto, don't let me stop you. What do you want to play?"

"I want to play the guitar, it's awesome!"

Naruto tried to reach for one of the guitars that Misho had been playing, but Misho directed him towards the back further, "Now Naruto, if you really want to play guitar, we need one sized for you. This guitar would be much too big. I think I've got a nice small one you could use."

Sure enough, just a minute later, Misho walked out with a much smaller guitar, but still sized right. He handed it off to Naruto, who promptly took the stool that Misho had been sitting on, and started strumming. Misho winced at the noise that pounded out from the strings.

Naruto looked up at the sound too, "It's broken."

Misho started laughing, as Naruto protested, "What? It is! Just listen to it."

Misho grabbed the guitar he'd been playing on earlier, and sat down, "Okay Naruto, now we teach you to play it without hurting people's ears."

"It's not broken?"

"No, you just need to know how to make it respond."

"Oh. How's that?"

"Let me show you. First off, put your fingers on the bridge, like this."

----------

It was near closing time, and Naruto was looking nervous.

"I really want the guitar, but... I'm not sure if I can pay for it."

Misho nodded, "Well, since you were my only customer on opening day, I can probably cut you a good deal, say half off. How much money do you have?"

Naruto held up a fistful of bills, and Misho whistled softly, "Wow, and what were you worried about?"

"I... was trying to go shopping, 'cause I had no more ramen, and needed some milk, but I'm not sure if I have enough for the guitar, and then I probably definetly won't have any for food, and I need food to last at least another week so I can get some more, and I'll probably have to toss half of it out, since it's always bad, and the milk always goes bad before I can finish it, sometimes it's even..."

"Naruto!" Misho cut in over top of him, "What do you mean, the food is always bad? You've got lots of money for a week's worth of food."

Naruto looked down at the ground, "The stuff they always sell me is never any good... some of it's always rotten. And I can't get that much with this."

Misho looked at Naruto, his eyes narrowing slightly, but he could tell that Naruto was telling the truth. A musician could always see into someone's soul.

"Okay Naruto. How about this. I'll take what you've got there for food, and I'll put what you owe me in the cash, and then I'll go get you food. I'll make sure you've got lots for the week, but I'll buy all I can with this."

Naruto's smile looked like it hurt his face as he beamed at Misho, "Really? You would really?"

Misho sighed, and nodded, "Yeah kid, I will. Even help you get it back to your apartment. Er, you live somewhere nearby?"

Naruto nodded, and handed the wad of bills to Misho, "Yeah, pretty close."

Misho's brown eyes caught Naruto's blue ones. "Okay, Here we go. I'm gonna lock up the store. You stay in here, and please don't touch anything but your guitar, and your music. I'm gonna have it put in my apartment, which is around back, and then we'll take it to your apartment."

At Naruto's excited nod, Misho thought 'There's something wrong here. Something seriously wrong.'

----------

Misho finished moving the groceries purchase from the cart of the wagon into his entry way. He'd purchased a month's worth of groceries for himself with his own money, and nearly two for Naruto. There were only two cases of ramen, because as much as Naruto had wanted it, if Misho was responsible for purchasing food for the kid, he wasn't going to get him nothing but ramen. He shuddered to think of how malnourished the kid would've been after two months of ramen.

The food didn't cost nearly as much as Naruto seemed to think it would have. For Naruto to have been right, the food would've had to cost nearly ten times what he had payed for it.

'There's definetly something wrong.'

----------

Naruto was often at Misho's store, in one of the small practice rooms over the next couple years. He wouldn't come in until there were no customers to notice him, and wouldn't leave until he could get out safely.

Misho always knew he was around, but didn't mind, and thought the kid was a good little brat, even if he boasted and postured alot. He now knew that Naruto was at the ninja academy, had been for a several years.

Misho knocked on the door to the practice room, and Naruto looked up. Letting himself into the room, Misho asked "So what's up?"

Naruto laughed, "Just a little nervous."

"Oh? Why's that?"

"The genin exam is tomorrow. If I pass, I'll finally become a real ninja. But if I fail..."

"What? A genin exam, scares the mighty future hokage?"

Naruto perked up, staring challenging into Misho's blue eyes, "That's right. I'm gonna pass this. It's nothing for me to get this exam. Believe it!"

Misho laughed, and Naruto's anxiety was dispelled, "That's great Naruto. You should stop over once you pass. I've got something I can show you, once you're a shinobi," Naruto looked at him curiously, "No, you're not getting a word out of me, till you graduate tomorrow."

----------

A/N: Well, that was a start.

A couple quick things.

That will hopefully be the last time Naruto ever says "Believe it!".

Also, Misho's eyes were completely intentional. If you're sure what I'm talking about, check what colour his eyes are. It's mentioned three times in the chapter.

So, hopefully I'll update soon. The chapters will start to stretch out I hope. If not, you're looking at 2k word updates. Not terribly, but considering that I came up with the premise for the story around 6 hours before it was published, and I have already the first six or so chapters planned, as well as this typed up.


End file.
